Thepchaiya Un-Nooh

Thepchaiya Un-Nooh (, ; born 18 April 1985) is a Thai professional snooker player.

He has won two ranking events, the 2019 Snooker Shoot Out and the 2026 World Open, and finished as runner-up in the 2019 World Open. He is regarded as one of the fastest snooker players on the World Tour, averaging less than 17 seconds per shot during the 2017–18 and the 2019–20 snooker seasons. . He won his second ranking title at the 2026 World Open, where he defeated Ronnie O'Sullivan 10–7 in the final, and made his seventh career maximum break of 147 during the match.

Career Un-Nooh began his first year on the professional tour for the 2009–10 season by winning the 2008 IBSF World Snooker Championship. He dropped off the main tour after just one season.

2012–13 season He received the Thai nomination to compete on the snooker tour for the 2012–13 season. As a new player on the tour, he needed to win four matches to reach the main stage of the ranking events. He lost in the third qualifying round in three of the first four ranking events of the season. In September, it was announced that his match at the Players Tour Championship – Event 3 against Steve Davis was under investigation due to unusual betting patterns. Un-Nooh moved from an 8/11 odds-on favourite to 11/8 against just before the match started, and went on to lose 0–4. World Snooker released a statement in November to confirm that there was insufficient evidence, and that no further action would be taken against Un-Nooh. He reached the final qualifying round for the UK Championship and the World Open, but lost to Michael Holt and Ryan Day respectively. His season ended when he was beaten 3–10 by Ben Woollaston in the third round of World Championship Qualifying, which saw him finish the year ranked world number 69.

2013–14 season

Un-Nooh lost in the qualifying rounds for the first four ranking events of the 2013–14 season, but then beat Gerard Greene 6–5 to reach the International Championship in Chengdu, China. In his first appearance in the main draw of a ranking event he defeated Zhang Anda 6–1, before losing by the same scoreline to Neil Robertson in the last 32. Un-Nooh played at the venue stage of four of the remaining six ranking events. He beat Ronnie O'Sullivan 5–4 in qualifying for the German Masters, with the reigning world champion playing high risk exhibition shots throughout the match, but Un-Nooh was whitewashed 5–0 by Jack Lisowski in the first round. At the World Open, Un-Nooh led Stephen Maguire 3–0, before the world number eight rallied to win four frames in a row. The match went into a deciding frame in which Un-Nooh made a break of sixty, only for Maguire to get a chance to win but then miss the final brown. He then reached the last 16 of a ranking event for the first time by beating Andrew Higginson 5–1 and lost 5–2 to Graeme Dott. Un-Nooh missed the final pink when on a 147 break during the match.

2014–15 season Un-Nooh qualified for the International Championship for the second year in a row, but was edged out 6–5 by Fergal O'Brien in the first round. He also lost in a deciding frame in the first round of the UK Championship against Robin Hull, making breaks of 137 and 117 during the match. Un-Nooh won five games to reach the semi-finals of the Xuzhou Open where he beat Mark Williams 4–1 to play in his first final in a professional event. He was defeated 4–1 by Joe Perry, but he described Un-Nooh as an exceptional talent after the match.

Un-Nooh defeated defending champion Ding in the first round of the Indian Open, calling it his biggest win after the match. He also stated that he didn't feel he could win the title. He then whitewashed Luca Brecel 4–0 and then recorded wins over Jamie Jones and Mark Davis to reach the semi-finals of a ranking event for the first time. Un-Nooh compiled a trio of half-century breaks to race into a 3–0 lead over Ricky Walden, but went on to lose 4–3. His Asian final saw him finish fourth on their Order of Merit to make his debut in the Grand Final, where he was knocked out 4–1 by Mark Williams in the first round. Un-Nooh's rise up the rankings continued as he ended the year 49th in the world.

2015–16 season Un-Nooh scored his first professional win at the 2015 Six-red World Championship in Bangkok, Thailand. He beat world champion Stuart Bingham and Judd Trump en route to a final with Liang Wenbo, which he won 8–2 in frames. Un-Nooh missed the final black in attempting to make a maximum break in his 6–2 loss to Neil Robertson at the UK Championship. He appeared on Channel 4 show TFI Friday a few days later to recreate the shot, and this time potted it. At the World Grand Prix, Un-Nooh eliminated Marco Fu 4–3 and Mark Allen 4–2 to reach the quarter-finals. He made breaks of 97, 84 and 74 to lead 3–1, but Ding took the match 4–3. Incredibly, in the final round of World Championship qualifying, Un-Nooh missed another 147 final black. He did make a 144 later on in the match, but his opponent Anthony McGill won 10–7. Un Nooh increased his ranking by 16 places over the year to end it as the world number 33.

2016–17 season Un-Nooh knocked out world number one Mark Selby 5–3 in the second round of the World Open, and then whitewashed Alan McManus 5–0 and beat Anthony McGill 5–2. In the semi-finals he suffered a 6–1 loss to Ali Carter. In the third round of the Paul Hunter Classic against Kurt Maflin, Un-Nooh finally made his first professional 147 break, after twice missing the final black the previous season. It earned him £40,000, and he won the match 4–1 before then narrowly beating Mark Allen and David Grace both 4–3, to reach the semi-finals of a ranking tournament for the second successive event. Un-Nooh lost 4–2 against Tom Ford. He then failed to win a first-round match until the 2017 Welsh Open, in which he beat Ben Woollaston 4–0 and then saw off Ryan Day 4–1, before being defeated 4–1 by Barry Hawkins. After a last 16 finish at the Gibraltar Open his season ended on a low note as he lost in the first round of qualifying for the World Championship with a 10–9 defeat against Peter Lines. His best ranking finish for the season was reaching the last 16 at the World Open, where he was eliminated 5–1 by Kyren Wilson. He qualified for the World Championship for the second year running after recording victories over Alexander Ursenbacher (10–8), Adam Stefanow (10–4), and Alfie Burden (10–8). Drawn against John Higgins in the first round, he recorded two century breaks but ultimately lost out 10–7. He finished the season ranked 56th.

2018–19 season: first ranking title Un-Nooh's best showing in a ranking event for the first half of the 2018–19 snooker season was at the Northern Ireland Open, where he defeated Robert Milkins 4–0, Ross Muir 4–0, Chris Totten 4–1, and Robbie Williams 4–0 before meeting Mark Selby in the quarter-finals where he lost 5–3. Un-Nooh then secured his first ranking event title at the 2019 Snooker Shoot Out, beating Michael Holt with a break of 74. This came after he made the highest break in the tournament's history, 139, in the semi-finals to beat Jamie Clarke. He secured a £32,000 prize and became the second player from Thailand to win a ranking event. He qualified for the World Championship, recording victories over Johnathan Bagley, Mark Joyce and Joe O'Connor. He was drawn against Trump in the first round, and lost 10–9, having been 6–3 up and having a chance to win in the deciding frame.

2019–20 season In the first half of the 2019–20 snooker season, Un-Nooh's best performances in ranking events were last 16 finishes at the Riga Masters and English Open, where he was defeated by Kurt Maflin and Ricky Walden respectively. He also added another title by winning the non-ranking Haining Open, defeating Li Hang 5–3 in the final. Just one week later at the World Open, Un-Nooh recorded victories over Zhang Yang, Craig Steadman, Sunny Akani, David Gilbert and Kyren Wilson to reach his second ranking final. Facing Trump, he fell 7–1 behind including conceding a frame after three fouls, but rallied to 8–5 before Trump took the remaining two frames. He picked up £75,000 for reaching the final which is his highest single-event prize to date. He also reached the quarter-finals of the Scottish Open where he lost out 5–3 to Jack Lisowski, the European Masters where he lost 5–1 to Neil Robertson, and the Gibraltar Open where he lost 4–0 to Kyren Wilson. In a match played behind closed doors, he was defeated 10–1 in a fastest ever best-of-19 match at the Crucible, which lasted 108 minutes.

2020–21 season In a season largely played behind closed doors in Milton Keynes, Un-Nooh's best ranking finishes were last 16 appearances at the Northern Ireland Open, Shoot Out and Gibraltar Open. His performances from the previous season were enough to propel him into the top 16 in the rankings for the first time by October, and would ensure he would make a first appearance at the Masters. Drawn against reigning champion Bingham, he slipped to 5–1 behind but rallied to 5–4, before Bingham won the tenth frame and the match 6–4. His season ended with a 6–5 defeat to Igor Figueiredo in the first round of qualifying for the World Championship. Despite losing to Fan Zhengyi in qualifying for the German Masters, he made the third maximum break of his career during the match. At the Turkish Masters, he was under pressure for ranking points and defeated local wildcard Ismail Turker, Stephen Maguire and Jordan Brown before losing in the last 16 to Matthew Selt but gaining some much needed points.

2022–23 season Un-Nooh's best ranking performance of the 2022–23 season came in the Scottish Open where he reached the semi-finals, recording victories against Mark Allen and Judd Trump before losing to Gary Wilson. His only other notable performance of the season came in the Six-red World Championship where he reached the final, losing 8–6 to Ding Junhui. He made the fourth maximum break of his career at the WST Classic against Xu Si.

2023–24 season In the 2023–24 season, his best ranking performances were reaching the last 16 of the International Championship, where he lost 6–5 to Barry Hawkins, and the German Masters, where he lost 5–2 to Judd Trump.

2024–25 season He also did not progress past the last 16 during the 2024–25 season, which he reached at the British Open, losing 4–3 to Mark Selby.

2025–26 season: second ranking title At the 2026 World Open, Un-Nooh defeated Trump in the semi-finals to set up a meeting with O'Sullivan. In the final, Un-Nooh fell 04 behind before winning six consecutive frames. O'Sullivan won the next three but Un-Nooh secured a 107 victory after making breaks of 132, 147 (maximum break) and 131 in the final three frames.

Playing style Un-Nooh is noted for his rapid playing style, and ability to win frames and matches quickly with explosive speed and heavy scoring, while his playing style has varyingly been described as "scary", but also "frustrating" due to his over-emphasis on attacking play which can make him vulnerable in safety exchanges or scrappy frames.

He is also notably only the second player (after Jamie Cope) to achieve a 155 break in a witnessed frame and the first to achieve it on camera after compiling one during a practice match against Hossein Vafaei.

Performance and rankings timeline Performance Table LegendLQ lost in the qualifying draw#R lost in the early rounds of the tournament(WR = Wildcard round, RR = Round robin)QF lost in the quarter-finalsSF lost in the semi-finalsF lost in the finalW won the tournamentDNQ did not qualify for the tournamentA did not participate in the tournamentWD withdrew from the tournament NH / Not Held means an event was not held.NR / Non-Ranking Event means an event is/was no longer a ranking event.R / Ranking Event means an event is/was a ranking event.MR / Minor-Ranking Event means an event is/was a minor-ranking event.PA / Pro-am Event means an event is/was a pro-am event.

Career finals Ranking finals: 3 (2 titles) Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final ScoreWinner 1. 2019 Snooker Shoot Out 1–0Runner-up 1. 2019 World Open Judd Trump 5–10Winner 2. 2026 World Open Ronnie O'Sullivan 10–7

Minor-ranking finals: 1 Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final ScoreRunner-up 1. 2015 Xuzhou Open 1–4

Non-ranking finals: 4 (2 titles) Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final ScoreWinner 1. 2015 Six-red World Championship Liang Wenbo 8–2Runner-up 1. 2017 Six-red World Championship Mark Williams 2–8Winner 2. 2019 Haining Open 5–3Runner-up 2. 2023 Six-red World Championship (2) 6–8

Pro-am finals: 2 (1 title) Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final ScoreRunner-up 1. 2007 Southeast Asian Games (6-red) 1–4Winner 1. 2011 Southeast Asian Games Ang Boon Chin 4–1

Amateur finals: 3 (2 titles) Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final ScoreRunner-up 1. 2007 Thailand Amateur Championship 4–5 Winner 1. 2008 IBSF World Championship Colm Gilcreest 11–7Winner 2. 2009 PIOS – Event 7 Lee Page 6–3